A Letter From The Editor
Does anybody else miss their freedom of
speech, or am I the only one?
I’ve always been fond of having the
freedom to say what’s on my mind.
Once, when I was a very little girl, one
of my many cousins hurt my feelings by
telling me to “shut up.” So, my grandfather
sat me down on his porch swing and told
me the story of my great, great, great-grandmother. He said she was an Irish girl who
came to America as a 15-year-old indentured servant (i.e., slave). She was about to
be hanged for speaking her mind — saying
things that annoyed people back in the
motherland. (Since that day, I’ve identified
with her.) But before they slipped the noose
over her head, someone in charge, back in
Ireland, decided it would be silly to hang her
when they could make money selling her
as a slave laborer. So, they threw her on a
ship and sent her to America. She landed in
Virginia and eventually married her boss, the
guy who bought her. They had 18 children
and she died at 93. (Or maybe after having
18 kids it just seemed like 93 years.)
Either because of her story or because
I’m something of an opinionated chatterbox,
I feel that freedom of speech is just slightly
behind freedom of religion when listing constitutional rights in the order of importance,
as I see them.
Today, a certain segment of society
would like to steal both of those rights away
from Americans, and to some degree they’ve
already succeeded.
Lately, I feel a certain hesitancy to express my opinion to anyone except my closest friends and family members. Don’t start
celebrating yet, I’m not planning to become
silent and keep my opinions to myself, not
yet, anyway.
I do know that it’s not only me. Others
have expressed their hesitancy lately, so I
know it’s out there.
Expressing your candid opinion gives a
lot of us a certain nervousness. We sort of
expect the Political Correctness Nazi Youth
Force to come goose-stepping in and handcuff us and lock us in a cell where recordings of Kanye West’s “music” will alternate
with Kim Kardashian’s voice talking and will
loop continually.
Why? Because Americans, for the most
part, have lost their sense of humor, and
those who still have theirs can’t seem to
make a joke or voice an opinion without
someone being offended.
I long for the days when everyone
stormed the local bookstore for the latest addition of Truly Tasteless Jokes, when
everyone would tell tasteless jokes around
the bonfire or at the coffeehouse, jokes that
today would be considered “offensive” by
politically correct standards.
Example: “OK, so an Irishman left a bar.
No really, he actually left a bar.” Everyone would howl with laughter. Because I
saw myself as Irish, or at least a little Irish,
I found this one especially funny. But if
someone else, some non-Irish person, told
this joke to me, would it bother me? Of
course not. I recall Mel Brooks’ plays and
movies, All In The Family and The Jeffersons.
Racism was something to laugh and sneer at.
What could be funnier than, “Springtime for
Hitler”? Enlightened people were not racists.
Civilization had moved beyond that. What’s
a stronger weapon than laughter? The philosophy was to laugh society’s issues away.
Does it work? I think it does. It’s a lot more
fun than lectures, protests and riots; so I’m
not sure that this isn’t the better tactic.
Recently, I had a “Close Encounter of
the Politically Correct Kind.”
Long ago, I worked alongside another
journalist for a Metroplex newspaper. I simply adored him. He was one of the funniest,
wittiest people I’d ever met. He moved away
years ago, but I sort of kept up with him
through Facebook. I hadn’t heard much from
him lately. Everyone’s busy. Then, a few
weeks ago, I posted a meme on Facebook
referring to the recent Super Bowl performance by Beyoncé. It said, “We need more
George Strait and less Beyoncé.” Mind you,
I have always liked Beyoncé, but her music
was never something I’d download. But, I
thought she was adorable singing “At Last”
at the 2009 president’s inauguration ball.
But, then I saw her Super Bowl Half-time
performance, where she gyrated like a lapdancer, dropped the F-Bomb, made grossly
explicit sexual references and paid homage
to the Black Panthers, which, in my opinion,
is on par with paying tribute to the Aryan
Brotherhood or Neo-Nazis. Worst of all, she
did all of this using what, in my opinion, is
a poor excuse for lyrics. Since when is the
F-Bomb OK for broadcasting on prime time?
What I posted wasn’t a diatribe; I’m not
denying her freedom of speech, regardless of how profane and poorly penned her
lyrics may be. She has the right to sing her
little, scantily-clad-heart out for Pepsi and
the NFL. But, I have the right to never buy
another Pepsi and to switch from watching
football to viewing ballet.
Guess what? I received an angry earful
from my friend (maybe former friend, now).
According to the once-funny guy, I’m too
old and not hip enough to understand the
brilliant lyrics that are to the Millennial
Generation what protest songs were to our
generation. (He’s actually a lot older than
I am, but why grasp at straws?) Musicians
should be encouraged, not shutdown, he
said. Really? Even musicians who spew
profane, poorly written garbage?
Beyoncé isn’t alone.
I also find the entire concept of 50
Shades of Gray completely offensive, albeit,
howlingly funny, but ridiculous. Let me say
this: I have never read the book and don’t
plan to. Yes. I am criticizing something I
haven’t read. I tried, sort of. A longtime
friend stepped off a plane from Europe and
gave her copy to me. “Read this,” she said,
“it will change your life.” It was just out. I’d
never seen it before or heard of it. From the
cover artwork, I assumed that it was some
sort of business success book. So, I read the
first chapter and realized it was something
else. After struggling through the first chapter — which reminded me of a Harlequin
Romance novel I’d been given when I was a
teenager, I couldn’t vWB7BF